‘The Walking Dead’ will return for Season 9 with a familiar face as the new showrunner

‘The Walking Dead’ will return for Season 9 with a familiar face as the new showrunner

Scott M. Gimple is out (sort of), Angela Kang is in.

The Walking Dead will return for a ninth season with Kang, a writer on the show since Season 2, occupying the showrunner’s seat. She’s the series first female showrunner, following Gimple, Glen Mazzara, and Frank Darabont.

Gimple, who has been the showrunner since Season 4, brought stability to the AMC series after tumultuous early years when lawsuits and creative differences between key decision-makers loomed over all. He’ll now move into the role of Chief Content Officer for AMC’s Walking Dead brand, which includes both the main series and the Fear the Walking Dead spinoff.

Kang noted in a statement that she was “beyond thrilled” to be taking the reins on the series (h/t Deadline).

“Working on this series and having the opportunity to adapt Robert Kirkman’s amazing comic has been a fangirl dream come true for me,” she said. “I’m excited to continue working with Scott and the wonderfully supportive folks at AMC, and can’t wait to share the next chapter of the story with our fans next fall.”

Season 8 of The Walking Dead continues on Feb. 25, picking up where the series left off in 2017 with a major character’s death looming — one that The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman has since spoken about publicly.

The ninth season begins in the fall, one of the key players from the series will be moving over to Fear the Walking Dead when it returns for its fourth season.